Portable electronic units that house character simulations, for example virtual pets, gained popularity in about the last ten years, particularly with school-aged children. Typically, a virtual pet is a hand-held electronic device having a display (e.g., dot matrix LCD) and one or more buttons. An image representing a character simulation (e.g., a fanciful/alien creature, a dog, a cat, etc.) is shown on the display, and a user can interact with the character simulation via the buttons.
In one virtual pet, interaction with a user influences the development and health of the character simulation. For example, a user can be able to feed the character by pressing a feed button. If the user does not feed the character for a certain length of time, the image displayed for the character can change to indicate the character is hungry or in declining health. If left unfed long enough, a simulated character can even die. Conversely, if the user feeds the character too often, the character can become fat, fail to develop to a next stage or assume a less desirable form in a next stage. Similarly, the user can be able to tend to sanitary, playtime, discipline, medical and other needs of the simulated character.
While hand-held character simulations remain popular, users desire greater interactivity. In particular, there is a need for a hand-held character simulation that has greater interactivity with the user and the user's environment. Further there is a need for a hand-held character simulation that has greater interactivity with other hand-help character simulations.